EDITOR, The Tribune
Last week, at the business launch for the new mobile company Aliv, it was stated by the company’s CEO Damian Blackburn that Aliv had managed to capture 25 per cent of the market share in 12 weeks. While I have been following the company’s aggressive tactics, I was quite alarmed by the statistics presented, mainly because I recently researched telecommunications in the country and the numbers seemed off.
According to URCA’s Annual Report for 2015, mobile voice penetration was 311,175 or in simple terms, there were 311,175 mobile customers in the country. At the time, BTC was the only mobile provider. It is now February 2017, and the surely the number of customers would not have declined to 180,000 unnoticed. Had BTC lost over 130,000 customers, someone would have known. The numbers would have had to decline to 180,000, because the new mobile entrant, Aliv is now indicating that they have 25% of the mobile market share – or that one quarter of BTC’s customers have left them and are now Aliv customers. That would be the only way that 45,000 would equal 25% of the mobile market share in The Bahamas.
So whose report should we believe? Aliv or URCA? I cannot fathom that URCA would be presenting false information to the public, but I humbly stand to be corrected if such is the case.
It is so important for the media to provide clear and “accurate facts”, not “alternative facts” to the public, when presenting information. Information that is placed by the media in the public domain is considered as “gospel” for many. I implore the Bahamian press not join the international dog and pony show about “alternative facts”. I challenge the media to do their own research and examine details, knowing that they ought to always act as responsible members of the community.
If the new mobile entrant is purporting 25% market share, it would mean that their subscriber base is at a minimum of 75,000, as 25% of 300,000 is 75,000, and according to the regulator’s annual report, for 2015, there were 311,175 mobile customers. From what I read in the articles in the papers, the CEO is indicating that they have 45,000 customers and not 75,000.
Let’s report the facts, not alternative facts and fiction please!
THEODORE ROLLE
Nassau,
February 26, 2017.
Comments
Well_mudda_take_sic 7 years, 1 month ago
For years now The Tribune has been publishing whatever comes out of the mouth of government officials, whatever news releases are made by government departments, agencies and corporations, whatever transpires in open court sessions, and other similar sources of "cheap news". It is called "cheap news" because the information published is subjected to little or no vetting of its veracity. The Tribune's "cheap" owners simply refuse to incur the higher costs associated with the conduct of investigative journalism. As a consequence of the "cheapness" of its owners, The Tribune was long ago relegated to being nothing than the rag tag tabloid that it is today.
Sickened 7 years, 1 month ago
The average Bahamian doesn't know what a 'percent' is so... who cares. The words are too big to comprehend anyway.
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